Stromae (Stromae): biography, best songs, interesting facts, listen

Stromae (Stromae)

The appearance of this Belgian performer with such a charming voice and bold music of his own composition was unexpected, and the success of the artist is very rapid. In 2009-2010, in almost all countries of the world, the motive of the famous single "Alors on danse" sounded. His singing, inimitable French accent, unusual appearance, and also a pleasant voice will hardly leave anyone indifferent. In order to become a fan of the creativity of the charming and charismatic singer Stromae, it is enough to hear at least one of his single.

A brief biography of Stroma and a lot of interesting facts about the singer can be found on our page.

short biography

Paul Van Aver, better known to the public as the singer of Stromae (modified Maestro) was born on March 12, 1985 in Etterbeek, near Brussels. His father is from Central Africa (Rwanda), it was from him that Paul got that skin color. Marie van Haver's mother was Belgian. The boy’s father, Pierre Rutard, was an architect by profession, but his parents' married life did not work out. For family reasons, Pierre was forced to go home, where he was killed in 1994 during the genocide against the Tutsis.

Mom was forced alone to take care of six children. She tried to provide them with everything necessary and give a decent education. The future singer went to study at the boarding school. St. Paul (Godinn), which was considered very prestigious. In addition to the basic subjects, the boy was able to study music. He recalled that he liked the classes very much, he even liked solfeggio, unlike other peers. His mother offered Paul to master some musical instrument and the boy’s choice fell on drums. Stromae has always been creative; therefore, during school years, he organized a rap group with his friends. In 2001, Paul acts under the pseudonym Opmaestro, but after finding out that a performer with that name already exists on the stage, he was forced to change it to Stromae. In 2003, an 18-year-old singer founded the band with a friend JEDI. They even recorded their first song "Faut que t'arrête le Rap" and shot the video. Having performed several tracks, the band broke up.

In order to pay for his studies at the National Institute of Cinematography and Radio Electronics at the Faculty of Sound Engineering, Paul works for a part-time job in a chain of fast-food restaurants. In parallel, he continues to engage in his work. True, this has to be done mostly late in the evening or at night. In 2006, he released his debut album "Juste un cerveau, un flow, un fond et un mic ...", which records and publishes exclusively at his own expense.

Success and public acceptance

Having successfully graduated from the institute, Paul takes a practice on radio NRJ in 2009. His broadcasts immediately gain popularity and their circle of admirers. But most importantly, this work allowed the novice performer to put his own compositions in rotation, which he immediately took advantage of. He was noticed and appreciated by the manager Vincent Verbelen, who allowed to put one of the tracks on the air. That is how the audience met the single "Alors on danse", which made Stroma famous throughout the world. Thanks to this song, the public recognized Stromae, and for him, she became a calling card. Holding Mercury Records France (Universal Music Group) immediately offered a lucrative contract to a novice artist. The most amazing thing is that all this time Stromae worked and made his way onto the stage himself, without the help of producers. He composed, recorded compositions, and also engaged in their promotion. As a result, the first Cheese album was recognized as the best dance collection and received the annual French Victoires de la Musique Award for outstanding achievements in the music industry. In 2011, the musician receives a nomination as the best Belgian performer at the MTV Europe Music Awards ceremony.

Interesting Facts

• The nickname Stromae appeared thanks to the youth slang Verlan. Its essence is to encrypt some words by moving syllables. In order to decipher its meaning, it is enough to swap (read backwards) the syllables in the word Stromae and get Maestro.

• The name of the artist is Van Aver, but many are surprised by the fact that she is not Rwandan, but Flemish. But the name Paul, most likely, he received in honor of his uncle (the deceased brother of his father). Pierre Rutara shook the death of his brother very much and this was the reason why he had to go to Belgium in due time. Also in Rwanda, in the homeland of Stroma's father, there is a custom according to which children are named after a relative or close friend. It is known that in the family everyone calls Strom "Popol"; this word can be translated as "Little Paul".
• The basis of his track "Papaoutai" formed a difficult relationship with his father, as well as his loss. Some sources claim that Pierre left his family and never saw his son, but this is not so. Every year a man tried to visit his relatives who remained in Brussels, and once the mother of the future star, together with little Paul went to Rwanda to visit her husband.
• The song "Meltdown", which Stromi wrote together with the singer Lord, as well as rappers Pusha T, Q-Tip and the Haim group, became the soundtrack for the movie "Hungry Games: Mocking Jay. Part 1".
• At Stromae unusual not only music, but also the style of dress. He himself came up with the name "Dandy Swag". Very often, the artist appears in the clips in bright costumes with incredible prints, they are complemented by catchy butterflies, cardigans or even pleated golf pants.

• Stromae and his wife organized the release of their own clothing line Mosaert (a word made up of his stage name). It presents the predominantly warm colors of Africa, psychedelic drawings and styles that are more characteristic of the English school. Thus, one of the prints for costumes was the image of exquisite flamingo in pointe. Mosaert is a unique brand that represents incredible eccentric outfits. The author of the images is Coralli Barbier, the consort of Paul. They recently released a new unisex clothing line. The singer himself often admitted that he was always constrained by the framework of a strict men's wardrobe and he found a way out.
• It is believed that the music Stromae quite frank. Often, he raises social problems that other performers try to avoid in their themes. The singer himself even calls his music "suicidal dances", naturally, in jest.
• The musician has an unusual style, to match himself. It is organically intertwined with a whole mass of other directions: French folk, hip-hop, Cuban rumba, europop and electronic music.
• Details of his personal life, Paul prefers not to disclose. It is only known that until 2012, he met with Miss Belgium - 2005 Tatiana Silva Braga Tavares. He then began an affair with Coralie Barbier, who soon became his legitimate wife.
• Stromae admitted in his interview that Jacques Brel, a famous Belgian singer and composer who composed music in the style of French chanson, had a great influence on the formation of his work.
• On May 23, 2011, Stromae took part in the popular French show Taratata, where he successfully performed with the American group The Black Eyed Peas. Earlier, Paul met at the award of the French radio station NRJ with famous musician William James Adams (will.i.am), who offered to collaborate with an aspiring artist and praised his sensational single "Alors on danse".
• In 2014, Stromae visited Moscow with its first concert, which took place on December 12 at Crocus City Hall.
• March 17, 2014 it became known that the composition Ta fête will become the official song of the Belgian national football team at the 2014 World Cup.
• In the New Year's Eve, a surprise was prepared for the residents of our country and for the admirers of Stroma's talent. He spoke at the New Year's Eve, which was broadcast on Channel One. Stromae performed the song Ave Cesaria, included in the second album, it was written specially in memory of the famous singer Cesaria Évora. In addition, in Russian, the singer congratulated all the fans on the New, 2015 year, which added a special charm to his performance.
• The lead singer of the popular Coldplay group, Chris Martin, during his performance in Leon, performed the well-known composition Stromae Bâtard. To his surprise, the audience sang along with him the words of the track.
• Despite the secrecy which Stromay has surrounded his personal life, he easily shares with his fans how he creates his masterpieces. On youtube, he even leads the channel "Les leçons de Stromae", on which he talks about his work on hits, because the artist wrote many of them on his working PC. The singer not only shares his experiences with followers, but also introduces them to his novelties. This idea also helped promote the tracks.

Best songs

The most requested and recognizable work of Stromaj was his single "Alors on danse", which in 2009 became megapopular first in his homeland, then in other European countries. Just a month after the release, 1 million copies were sold worldwide and this is an undoubted record. In 2010, the song receives official recognition as track No1 at once in many European countries. September 2 Stromae writes a remix to his single, together with Kanye West. The author himself receives the prestigious Award NRJ. In addition, the composition becomes the "Hit of 2010" by the results of the Music Industry Awards (MIA) The clip for this song would filmed in 2009, directed by using two views to show what is happening.

"Alors on danse" (listen)

The three initial singles of the second album also received universal acclaim from the public and critics. Stromae does not come off the covers of glossy magazines and television. His video for the song "Papaoutai"honors the Best Clip award at the International Film Festival. This single was special, autobiographical. It tells the story of a guy searching for his father. Stromae told about his father who died in 1994 in Rwanda during the genocide. The video shows 1940 years, and the absent parent is represented by a dummy - a doll.This single became an absolute hit in France, Wallonia, and also hit the top ten in Switzerland and Luxembourg.

"Papaoutai" (listen)

Song "Formidable"was released in the summer of 2013. Literally for the first I donated, she took the leading position in the charts of Belgium and France. It is believed that this single, together with" Alors on danse ", is the most successful of his works. The video was marked by a high award in the nomination" Musical video of the year "Victoires de la Musique 2014. The appearance of the video on the network also managed to make a lot of noise. The fact is that first a video was recorded on YouTube made by an amateur camera. On it, the famous singer Stroma was at the tram stop, while he barely kept on his feet from drinking alcohol The reaction of the fans and the public was very stormy. Especially critics condemned the law enforcement officers who did not detain the drunken young man just because he was a star. After a few days everything fell into place. “Formidable.” In the afternoon plot, a drunken musician appears at the tram stop who literally finds no place for himself and makes a noise. The police offer him to take him home, while passers-by are smiling and filming on mobile phone cameras. He cannot explain what happened to him and only shouts out one word “Great”. Having learned that all this is a production, the audience once again was amazed and praised Paul for his excellent acting skills. A little later, he also explained in detail why the idea for this video was born. It turned out that at this moment he was experiencing one of the darkest periods in his life and was acutely aware of loneliness. In his interview, the singer said that the idea originated in the usual street of Brussels, when he accidentally ran into a homeless person. He looked at the musician and said only one phrase, which was clearly filled with him: "Do you think you're handsome?". A week later, after the appearance of this video, the entire video was presented to the public, which was highly appreciated by fans.

"Formidable" (listen)

A real breakthrough was the video for the original composition "Tos les memes". In it, the musician tried to look at the relationship between a man and a woman from two sides. The role of the androgyn was performed flawlessly. The singer himself was dressed as half a guy, half a girl. Complementing all this is excellent choreography and original costumes. This track, and clip, has become very popular with fans.

Racine carrée second album and decision to leave the stage

August 16, 2013 Paul releases his second album Racine carrée. Music critics noted not only Stromi's music, but also his texts and themes, which he chose for his collection. The singer receives high praise for his profound lyrics and is even compared to Jacques Brel. The album instantly becomes popular in European countries. Artist singles lead the charts in France, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy. In France, his second album was the best-selling in recent years and sold over a million copies in just the first four months after release. For the first week of sales, the collection ranked 1st in the top popularity in France. Literally by the end of 2015, this album was the only one in the last 10 years that could reach 2 million sales in France. In the second album there are familiar classical music motifs. A real surprise for fans of Stromae was the appearance of the track Carmen. True, the melody of the famous Habanera from the opera "Carmen" by Georges Bizet is presented in electronic interpretation. The composition itself was very original.

In December 2016, Stromae greatly upset his loyal fans, informing them that he had decided to start a solo career and would no longer speak to the public. Now he decided to work together with other artists, but remaining in their shadow and speaking only the author of the compositions. So, on May 5, 2017, his collaboration with the French rapper Disiz La Peste "Splash" was released. The music for the song was written by Stromae. He also presented to the public his joint track Peine et Pitié with Vitaa and John Mamann, released in 2017.

Most popular online has found the video "Run Up". This is the work of Canadian rapper Partynextdoor and Nicki Minaj, released April 12, 2017. The song was written by Stromai. It turned out a very unusual track on the topic of the day. The artists decided to make fun of the modern passion for smartphones. At one noisy party, guests can not tear themselves away from their phones. Each of them is trying to gain popularity, fame and enlist a crowd of subscribers in a social network, but they just can not have fun and communicate with each other. The video instantly scored a huge number of views, becoming mega popular.

Stromae had to go through a lot on the road to fame. He was able to achieve public recognition and world fame, without the support of an influential producer or a lot of money. Thanks to his talent, as well as a strong love for music, the artist was able to conquer the world stage and stay on the podium, winning high awards. The audience is closely following his work and is looking forward to when Stromae will again be able to please them with his performances and new tracks.